No. 80 Harlem

Harlem (Not from New York) is the definition of a garage band to me. Hailing from Arizona and now living in Austin, this band has a crude low-fi distorted rock/punk sound throughout their two albums. They self released an album in 2008 called Free Drugs and just put out another titled Hippies which is backed by label Matador Records. Matador has an eye for talent producing bands like Sonic Youth, The New Pornographers, Belle & Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Ted Leo and the Pharmacist, and Shearwater. I like this band for who they are, everything is laid out there. There is no mystery to Harlem, they just play solid rock music with nothing complicated. I think this band has big potential down the road and from their reviews, they play a great live show. Listen to "South of France", "Gay Human Bones" and "Friendly Ghost." They remind me of Black Lips meets The Strokes, but a little dirtier. Anyway I plan on catching these fellas at Lalla this year and hope they put on an entertaining performance.

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